


Up All Night

by TheUnicornFountain



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Genre: Angst, Blood, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-09
Updated: 2015-05-09
Packaged: 2018-03-29 19:56:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3908614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheUnicornFountain/pseuds/TheUnicornFountain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Within the drowned, silent Hyrule, Ganondorf stews and thinks on how things would have been better if the Hero of Time had returned. Amidst these thoughts, an impossible visitor arrives at his tower--a boy with blue eyes that have seen too much.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Up All Night

**Author's Note:**

> This is something I've wanted to write for a few days. Please forgive the weird pacing; the story didn't want to be written.
> 
> Enjoy, thank you!

# Up All Night

It was so _quiet _all of the time now.__

__Beneath a dome of seawater, Ganondorf whiled away the hours, days, months, and years alone, surrounded by silence. The sun passed above as a blurred circle, and the moon’s face stabbed the water with milky beams. This was how the once-Gerudo king marked time. He had nothing else to do save wander the halls and rooms of his tower, which had survived Hyrule’s flooding generations ago._ _

__Sometimes Ganondorf was convinced a year had passed every time he blinked, but more often he would count a minute and hope to find a decade had gone by. Such was never the case, and while he had a piece of the Triforce on his side, he couldn’t stop the hallucinations and hints of insanity creeping into his thoughts. He saw his people rise and fall over and over. Nabooru sometimes talked to him from the shadows of his bedroom, or her hands traced his body in his dreams; a body that had grown fat and old despite the power he held._ _

__This was all the Hero of Time’s fault. He had never returned a second time when Ganondorf broke free of his prison and attempted to take Hyrule once more. Instead, the Goddesses had stepped in and taken everything away. If the Hero had only returned… If he had only done his job…_ _

__There were nights when Ganondorf sacrificed sleep to replay the first battle against the Hero of Time over and over, rectifying his mistakes, only to switch to the battle that would have played out had the Hero returned. He spent many of his daytime hours mulling over the same things, always with the thought that someday… someday the veil of water would pull back, and a Hero would appear from behind it._ _

__When the Hero did appear, it was in far less a dramatic fashion than Ganondorf was expecting. He awoke one morning to the nagging feeling that someone else was in his tower with him. His bedroom was on one of the higher floors, and it took him close to half an hour’s search of each room and hall, working first up the remaining floors and back down, before he came across the child._ _

__The boy was no older than ten, and he was most certainly the same child Ganondorf once saw outside a storm-darkened Castle Town. He had the same blonde hair and blue eyes, and the tunic was the same as well--only charred black in places, and torn in others. Additionally, the left sidelock was scorched, and there was a wide, fresh burn that ran up the right side of his head from chin to temple, giving the impression that his face was an ill-fitting mask._ _

__This was not the Hero of Time… and yet it was. He was as much changed and unchanged as Ganondorf… but why was he here? _How _was he here? Had his Triforce piece sustained him as well? If so, it hadn’t done its job right. Ganondorf soon discovered the boy was raving mad.___ _

____“Too… Too late, too late. I--” The boy rubbed at his burn, and it began to weep fresh fluids. “They all--” He deteriorated into tears._ _ _ _

____This was not the Hero of Time. All of Ganondorf’s fantasies about finally besting the Hero dried up at the sight of this broken, half-crazed child. To kill him would be no victory._ _ _ _

____Ganondorf dropped to his knees and reached out towards the boy. He flinched and pulled back, but Ganondorf’s firm hand on his shoulder held him still. “What’s your name?”_ _ _ _

____“My… I don’t…” The boy swallowed and gazed off at nothing. He shook himself back to reality when Ganondorf put a hand on his forehead._ _ _ _

____The blue eyes stared up at the wide hand, but they didn’t close like Ganondorf expected. Even so, he saw a wall of fire and many faces swallowed up in it. He jerked his hand away with a frown. “Is your name Link?”_ _ _ _

____The boy focused on Ganondorf, and a look of puzzlement came to his face after a long delay. “My name? What am I?” He held up a hand and turned it over, studying it._ _ _ _

____Ganondorf let out a long sigh. “You’re Link.” The boy looked to him. “You’re the Hero of Time.”_ _ _ _

____“Time?” Link’s eyes widened in terror, and he reached out to take hold of Ganondorf’s collar. “What time is it? What time is it? I can still make it. I can still do it!” He began to cry. “I won’t go to sleep again. Just give me more time.”_ _ _ _

____The boy was wearing down Ganondorf’s patience. He pushed himself onto his feet--hearing his back crack along the way--and scooped up the child in his arms. Link froze and looked around him with wary eyes, but he didn’t protest. Ganondorf carried him to a washroom where he obediently followed an order to take a seat on a stool._ _ _ _

____“This will sting,” Ganondorf warned before pressing a cloth reeking of antiseptic against the boy’s burn. Link took no notice of the treatment. After the antiseptic came Deku berry paste--a now-rare medicine thanks to the flooding. Link played with the jar while Ganondorf coated the burn in the red paste._ _ _ _

____A snip of scissors cut away the left scorched sidelock, but Link sneered and leaned back when Ganondorf attempted to even out the look. He leaned too far and nearly fell off the stool. There was a brief struggle to keep his balance, and once he regained it he jumped off regardless and skipped out of the washroom with almost inhuman quickness._ _ _ _

____Ganondorf followed at his slower pace and looked down both sides of the hall outside the door. Link had vanished, and there was no sound of footsteps. In this new quiet, Ganondorf paused to consider what he was going to do with the child. He should kill him… But he knew it would leave a sour taste in his mouth._ _ _ _

____Link didn’t appear again until later in the evening. Ganondorf was walking the halls when he heard a slighter set of footsteps echoing his. He turned around to find Link behind him with his eyes down. He walked into Ganondorf and bounced back._ _ _ _

____A long silence stretched until Ganondorf prompted, “What do you want, boy?”_ _ _ _

____Link fidgeted in place. “I’m hungry.”_ _ _ _

____The tower’s kitchen magically kept itself stocked. Ganondorf led Link to it, and the boy vanished into the pantry where he shifted things around for a few minutes. He reemerged with bacon, a half-basket of eggs, and a block of cheese in hand, and Ganondorf made breakfast for dinner. Link dragged a chair to the counter and cracked the eggs into a bowl for the omelets, but afterwards lost interest and pushed his seat back to the table. He bounced in his chair when Ganondorf placed all of the bacon and a substantial omelet in front of him. He made it halfway through his plate before he nodded off._ _ _ _

____Ganondorf finished up both his plate and Link’s while he studied the tics and frowns that worked over the boy’s marred face. The tics continued when he was carried up to the bedroom opposite Ganondorf’s, but he didn’t wake._ _ _ _

____How easy it would be to press a pillow against the boy’s nose and mouth. Instead, Ganondorf tucked him under the blankets and retreated to his own bedroom. He had no energy for bathing or even changing into nightclothes. He lowered himself into bed and closed his eyes._ _ _ _

____He woke up an hour later to find the boy standing over him with the Master Sword in hand._ _ _ _

____Ganondorf jerked upright and made to stop the blade. His hand was at the boy’s throat when he recognized the shining blade for what it was: a slice of moonlight. Alarm turned to anger in an instant, and Ganondorf barked out, “I nearly killed you, boy!”_ _ _ _

____Link fixed an unfocused gaze on Ganondorf and spoke the Gerudo’s next thought aloud. “Why didn’t you?” Ganondorf reeled, and Link went on to ask, “What day is it?”_ _ _ _

____“I… What?” Ganondorf thought back on the countless years. When had he stopped keeping track?_ _ _ _

____Link grew more frantic by the second. “What day is it?” he asked again. His voice quickly escalated to a near-scream. “I have to know. I have to! Is this the third night? _Am I going to--” _He was cut off by a hard backhand. The blow sent him staggering to his left, and he dropped to the floor with a grunt.___ _ _ _

______“Go back to bed,” Ganondorf ordered as he wiped his hand free of dry Deku berry paste. “Or I will silence you for good.” He rolled over without waiting to see if the boy would comply._ _ _ _ _ _

______The morning brought the sight of Link curled up in bed opposite Ganondorf. His knees were against his chest, and his hands were tucked under his chin. It was as if he was attempting to make himself as small as possible. His right cheek was dark with bruising, and the burn showed raw patches around the broken, dried paste._ _ _ _ _ _

______Ganondorf pushed himself out of bed, pissed into the chamber pot, and took a change of clothes down the hall to a room where a bathtub kept itself magically steaming. It was wide and made of silver with hoofed feet. Ganondorf slipped into it with a sigh of relief, propped his arms on the lip, and tilted his head back with eyes closed. Quiet descended upon him, and he relished it until a splash announced a second bather._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Look, I’m a Zora,” Link said when Ganondorf looked at him. The boy was stripped out of his charred clothes, and Ganondorf saw his right side was peppered with lesser burns and half-healed cuts. With a grin Link ducked beneath the water and vanished in a circle of bubbles. The water settled, and a quiet minute went by before Ganondorf grew concerned. He shifted his leg to encourage the boy to rise, but he encountered no child._ _ _ _ _ _

______Ganondorf sat up straighter and leaned forward. His arms dipped into the water and fanned out in opposite directions before meeting back at the middle. The bathtub wasn’t _that _large. Where did Link go? Ganondorf searched the water again, but he couldn’t see or feel the boy. The water was dark and empty.___ _ _ _ _ _

________“Kid?” Ganondorf moved to the opposite end of the bathtub, searching all the while. He wasn’t here. Where did he go? _Where? _“Link!”___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“What?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Ganondorf spun and nearly dunked himself when his legs slipped out from beneath him. Link was in the spot the Gerudo had just vacated. He had a puzzled look on his face. There was no possible way he could have slipped by Ganondorf, so how did he?_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Ganondorf pointed out of the bathtub. “Get out.” Link frowned and pushed back his wet bangs. “Get out, I said!”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________The boy flinched and cowered like a struck puppy. He slinked over the side of the tub on his belly, keeping as much room as possible between himself and Ganondorf. The Gerudo planted a foot on Link’s bare ass to encourage him along, and the boy dropped over the side with a yelp. He didn’t reappear, and Ganondorf leaned over the side to see what he was doing. He half-expected the boy to be gone again, but he wasn’t. Instead, he was on his knees in a puddle of water with his hands spread out above the wet floor. He patted at the stone tiles and murmured to himself._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________The boy had already proved he was several arrows short of a full quiver, but there was an eerie quality to his psychosis that persisted through the day. It unsettled Ganondorf, and he was not a man who was unsettled easily. But the odd appearances, peculiar questions and remarks, and dead, unfocused gazes were hard to overlook. And every word and expression pulled at the burn on Link’s face, making it twitch. Ganondorf found himself experiencing a strong desire to take hold of the burn’s edge and peel the boy’s face away to see what lay underneath._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________But if the days were unsettling, the nights were terrifying. On the second night, Ganondorf was two floors below Link’s bedroom, looking for any sort of medicine he might have in the tower. The Deku berry paste--which was known to heal puncture wounds in the glorious days of war-torn Hyrule--was having no effect on Link’s burn. But he had barely started his search when a long wail echoed down a nearby staircase. It startled Ganondorf, and he followed the sound up two flights to Link’s bedroom._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________The bedroom was dark save for the dim light of a lantern which Ganondorf had left lit at the boy’s request. For a moment, the flickering shadows threw a web of lines over Link’s pale face. The shadows vanished when Ganondorf reached the bed. The boy’s strained blue eyes looked up at the Gerudo._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“What is it, boy?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Link blinked and looked around with a lost expression. “What night is it? How long have I been asleep?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________The boy had asked similar questions all day, and Ganondorf was growing tired of it already. “Go to bed,” he ordered, and he gave Link’s forehead a push down to the pillow. A ripple of anger traveled through Ganondorf’s fingertips. Without realizing it, he had read the boy’s thoughts._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Link’s marred face twisted into an expression to match the fury, and he screamed, _“You can’t make me!” _He jumped out of the bed and fled the room, trailing a pattering of footsteps. He was fast. Ganondorf rushed to the doorway and found the hall beyond empty. The Gerudo would have let the boy go if not for the wail that repeated three floors away.___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________Three floors? Ganondorf hurried down his tower and came across the boy huddled in a corner. He no sooner reached Link did the boy run off again. The wail came a third time seconds later, and from two floors above._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________“Enough,” Ganondorf muttered to himself. He made for his bed, but he couldn’t sleep. He waited for that terrible sound to come a fourth time, and the expectation kept him awake for hours. It was such a ghastly sound…_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________A week passed, and during it Ganondorf had little sleep. By the seventh day, he began to reconsider his vow not to kill the deranged brat. It wasn’t only the erratic behavior. The lack of proper sleep was beginning to affect him. He began to hallucinate worse than he had when he was surrounded in silence. He imagined the boy taking on the shapes of long-dead Hyrulean races. They cursed and mocked him for destroying Hyrule before vanishing into darkness. During the night, the cries of the dead echoed through the tower, offset by Link’s footsteps and nattering that filled the day._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________And still the burn refused to heal. The boy woke up every morning with a stain on his pillow where the weeping cheek had pressed against the fabric. But there were no signs of infection, and Link appeared to feel no pain. Rather, he was more concerned for Ganondorf; for the man’s drawn face and baggy eyes; for the shake in his hands. And what day it was._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________Ganondorf snapped on the seventh evening. “You want to know what day it is?” he growled, and Link retreated with a frightened look to hide under the dinner table. “It’s the last day you’re staying here!” Ganondorf slammed his fists against the table. _“You will leave now, or I will rip you apart, you worthless child!” _____ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________What was he thinking? Did he truly believe this broken boy would push back the madness growing in him? If anything, the brat fed it! This was no hero. This was a shell of one._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________“Over and over…”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________Ganondorf ducked his head under the table when the choked words came to his ears. Link was sitting with his knees drawn up to his chest. He rubbed at his burn while he talked._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________“Over and over… I saw them over and over. They needed help, but I… I couldn’t keep track. I messed up. I was so tired, and I just wanted to sleep… I thought I could take a day or two for that and start over when I was feeling better…”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________Ganondorf lowered himself onto his knees._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________Link’s fingers began to dig and scratch. “I woke up, and it was raining fire. I… I couldn’t think. I couldn’t save them. I ran. I ran away and--” He cut himself off when Ganondorf seized hold of his wrist. Link’s scratching had opened up a flow of blood along the edge of the burn._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________“You are not the Hero of Time,” Ganondorf growled. Link’s wide eyes stared at him in fear. “The Hero of Time would never run, no matter what he faced. But he _can _die.”___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________Link shook in his seat as Ganondorf’s fingers dug into the raw edge of his burn. Something more than blood emerged; something black and oily._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________Ganondorf pulled his bloodied hand back and glared at the twitching shadow beneath the mask that was Link’s face. “Maybe you were the Hero of Time once, but now you are nothing more than a phantom. Did you come here seeking a fellow phantom? Well, you’ve found him, and he is as dead inside as you!”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________The frightened, blue eyes turned red and fierce, and the boy launched himself at Ganondorf with a snarl. Ganondorf deflected him and gained his feet while the boy was struggling to stand. His foot found the brat’s neck and pushed him down._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________Link writhed and struggled beneath him like a caught snake; he screamed curses and incomprehensible words. They tapered off into pleas when a long, thin blade was pointed down at him._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________Silence fell around Ganondorf once more._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _


End file.
